On March 23 Handicap International (HI) and UNHCR organized an unusual repatriation

convoy to Battambang of 70 Cambodians from Site 2, the last remaining Cambodian refugee

camp. Among them were 22 "survivors," heavily disabled people who would

normally have died without the care they received for nearly 13 years in the Rehabilitation

Center for paralyzed patients set up by HI at Khao I Dang.

For the 22 patients with severe neurological injuries, the seven- hour journey to

Battambang represented a hazardous hardship. The convoy, organized with the help

of ICRC included eight ICRC ambulances for the patients.

Their destination was a temporary center set up by the HI team in Cambodia, pending

the completion of an EC-funded Rehabilitation Center for Paraplegics and Quadraplegics

in Battambang, the first of its kind in Cambodia.